Clare find their range to end long wait against Waterford

Clare 2-20 Waterford 1-15: A much improved second half saw Clare achieve a first Munster championship victory in five years when they finished strongly to defeat Waterford at Semple Stadium this afternoon.

Goals in the 55th and 61st minutes turned the tables on what had been a feisty Waterford challenge.

Full forward Shane O'Donnell got the first goal after Peter Duggan did good work to block Kevin Moran when he the

Waterford captain was trying to clear the ball. O’Donnell pulled on the loose ball and hit the net.

That pushed Clare in front, 1-14 to 1-11, for the first time since the opening half, and completely changed the match’s dynamic.

With their confidence boosted, the winners went on to outscore their opponents 1-6 to 0-4 in the closing 15 minutes.

The second goal came from Conor McGrath, who latched on to a breaking ball and stepped inside to shoot to the net.

That it turned out such a hard-fought win wouldn’t have been obvious from the opening minutes when Clare swept their opponents off their feet to lead by four points to nil after eight minutes.

An opening point from a 65 by Colin Ryan got them off the mark in the third minute and when John Conlon, twice, and Tony Kelly fired over points the likely outcome looked bleak for Waterfobutrd.

The initiative was quickly and dramatically lost, however, by mistakes in the Clare defence. Shortly after their fourth point, centre back Patrick Donnellan tried to thread a short low ball through his defence only for Jake Dillon to snap it up and help himself to a goal.

Immediately afterwards, in the ninth minute, the defence allowed a ball to run through and Dillon was on hand to equalise.

Although Darach Honan, playing as expected in place of Pádraig Collins, quickly restored the lead, Waterford now held the whip hand.

Their half backs squeezed Clare’s half forwards and Shane O’Sullivan took a grip at centrefield.

The effect of this was an impressive lockout, which saw Clare score just one point in 21 minutes, during which time Waterford gained the upper hand on the scoreboard.

They hit the front for the first time in the 21st minute when O'Sullivan's long clearance from his own defence found Maurice Shanahan on the right wing and his well-hit shot made it 1-4 to 0-6.

At half-time they led by four, 1-9 to 0-8, but O’Donnell and McGrath proved the game changers after the break.